how often do college cheerleaders practice

The transition from high school to college cheer is very different than cheerleading back in high school. There is often more pressure, demands, and expectations of college cheerleaders.

Cheerleaders practice around 3-4 times a week. College cheerleaders often live a busy schedule, requiring most to be productive throughout the day depending on the type of cheer program. Whether they are competitive or non-competitive teams plays a big part in how long and how often they practice.

Here are the details on how often college cheerleaders practice each week.

Cheerleading Practice

Cheer practice in college is much different compared to how practices are organized in high school. In college, many coaches will take the cheerleader’s class schedules into consideration with practice since college courses always come first. Instead of having practices early in the morning or in the evenings, the practices could be held during the middle of the day, morning or night.

College athletes practice on average two hours a day in addition to the regular number of practices per week, if you are on a team that practices for national competitions, there is most likely going to practice two times a day. This also doesn’t include the time being put into conditioning, weekend, and holiday practices.

Since there are many different goals needed to be accomplished, competition team practice can seem more like a responsibility or a job instead of just a hobby.

School

School expectations are usually strict when on a college cheer team. Most of the time coaches will require a certain grade point average in order to stay on the team and more expectations such as going to class and performing well in all areas of your life.

This schedule can often be very demanding and stressful for many college athletes. It is important to be able to manage all the stress that comes with being a college student. For most students, it is exhausting but absolutely worth it. Cheerleaders who have a passion for their sport will have no problem with being involved in the team and practices.

Tryouts

Tryouts are a huge part of the college cheerleading experience. In order to be on the college cheer team, you will have to be accepted on the team. In order for this to work, a whole weekend will need to be dedicated to practicing and trying out.

Tryouts in college are different than tryouts in high school. Depending on the school you attend, the tryouts will be different in their level of difficulty, and other tryout procedures.

Instead of performing a cheer routine in front of the judges, most colleges will be looking for tumbling, and how stunts are being performed. The tryouts will focus less on the performance and more on what is being observed during the environment of the practice.

Games

All college cheerleaders are required to practice for games. All cheerleaders are required to come to every game and cheer the team on. As a cheerleader who is become more involved in the school, cheerleaders are big fans of their school and their sports team.

Some games will be held at different locations. Cheerleaders all will transport together to each away game. It is the cheerleader’s responsibility to be at each one of the games no matter how near or far it is.

Camps

Camps are an experience that happens in college, different than high school cheerleading. There are differences in the atmosphere when attending camps. You are often with your teammates for this whole period of time practicing and preparing for any upcoming games.

Competitive and noncompetitive teams will both show up to cheer camps. At these camps, there will often be the top competitive teams in college cheerleading. Most cheerleaders will get tips and tricks from all these professional cheer teams.

Typical Daily Routine

For every college cheerleader, the schedule will look different for every cheerleader. Here is the typical schedule of a day in the life of a college cheerleader.

7:30 AM

At this time most college athletes will wake up, shower, and get dressed. Packing up the backpack with everything essential is key to starting the day off right.

8:30 AM

At this time, eating breakfast with teammates, or on your own is typical for most college athletes.

9 AM

Most college students will be in class around this time. Most classes during the day will last at least an hour.

10 AM

Classes are still going on. Next, classes will last at least an hour in length.

11:30 AM

Team meetings often happen around this time. During this time, cheerleaders will come together to discuss their goals and plans for the day, and evaluate what needs to be done in preparation for practices and competitions. Feedback for each athlete can be received on what can be improved.

12:30 PM

Lunch with your teammates and other friends usually happens around this time.

1:30 PM

The third and final class of the day will be around this time. Students will be going to classes, working on homework before practice, or taking a break.

3 PM

Starting around 3 pm, cheer practice will usually start around this time. Most athletes will be in the gym, preparing on the field or indoors for practice.

4 PM

At 4 pm, most students will start practice which typically lasts around two hours in length. Some days during practice will be intense, while some days may be more of a recovery after a competition or strenuous game or event. If a game or competition is coming up very soon, practices will often be geared towards preparation and are rather less strenuous.

6 PM

Around 6 pm, most athletes will be finishing u their last bits of training and conditioning before the game starts. Athletes will be preparing themselves and their teammates for the game night ahead.

7 PM

At this time, most athletes will eat dinner with their teammates, start working on homework for the next day or even hang out with friends. If a football or basketball game is going around this time, cheerleaders will be at the game cheering on.

9:30 PM

Most athletes will be winding down, finishing up homework, getting ready for bed, etc.

This is the typical athlete schedule for every day of the week. Every University cheerleader will have a different schedule depending on the number of classes they are taking, or how much time is dedicated to homework.